Wedding gift sends recipient to city BZA meeting

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Never look a gift horse in the mouth, an old axiom suggests. But what do you do if that gift lands you in front of the Greencastle Board of Zoning Appeals?

That’s what happened to LeAnn White, 505 Shadowlawn Ave., who appeared before the BZA requesting a development standards variance for a gravel driveway in a single-family dwelling (SD-1) district.

White just got married and she and her husband have numerous vehicles, which when parked end to end on their concrete Shadowlawn driveway makes it difficult to back out onto the busy thoroughfare.

A friend, Gary Cox, thought he had the answer. He extended the driveway with gravel to make a pull through in the front yard, which created a second curb cut for the property onto Shadowlawn.

“This was a wedding gift,” Cox said. “I wasn’t planning on getting her (White) in trouble.”

Cox admitted that he was unaware that permission was needed to put in a driveway and make a curb cut. He intended to put down the gravel to make a usable driveway for now, letting the gravel settle so that in a year or two, when White and her husband could better afford it, they could finish it with asphalt.

“So there are two issues, as I see it,” BZA member Paul Champion pointed out. “It’s a gravel driveway and there was not permission for a second curb cut onto Shadowlawn.”

City Planner Scott Zimmerman, who said White and Cox were very courteous and asked “how can we resolve this” when informed of the violation of city zoning law, said the main issue is the use of gravel where it needs to be a paved surface.

“It depends on what sort of precedent we want to set,” Zimmerman said, suggesting that the gravel be removed or properly topped with asphalt.

He said the reasoning behind it is “does this entrance provide safe entrance to the street and does it allow stormwater to back up?”

Zimmerman’s recommendation was to not approve the variance request.

But rather than nix the project altogether, the BZA voted to table the matter until its October meeting to allow the petitioner the opportunity to get the process of paving under way.

Asphalt plants in Indiana typically close after Thanksgiving.

Can they get the work done by Nov. 15, White and Cox were asked.

“If we don’t get it done, we’ll just pull the gravel up,” Cox said.

City Attorney Laurie Hardwick reminded them they would still need a permit to put down the asphalt.

Zimmerman said that would be an improvement location permit, for which there is no charge in the city. They will also need to apply for a curb cut permit, he noted.

The motion to table the zoning request was passed unanimously by Champion, Doug Wokoun, Jon Clark and BZA Chairman Andrew Ranck. The fifth seat on the BZA awaits appointment by the Plan Commission.

In the evening’s other item of discussion, Scott Williams was granted a variance to allow expansion of a contractor warehouse for his Regal Custom Homes and Restoration business, 1420 W. CR 280 South, at Limedale.

The property is the former site of the Limedale Ditching business and has essentially been a contractor warehouse since the 1970s. The property has been utilized for industrial/commercial uses “for many, many decades,” Williams said.

Williams said he plans to add onto the existing building for additional “dry storage” for equipment and materials. A 30-by-50 foot “tall garage” will have a concrete floor and tall garage doors to accommodate his equipment.

“I like to have a lot of that stuff not in public view,” he said, later adding that he has installed external lighting to help curtail theft and “some mischief” along the People Pathway section that is behind his property.

Neighbor Rick Parrish offered support for the project, saying Williams’ buildings are “very nice” and well kept up. “What they’re doing is very good,” he added.

Meanwhile, Zimmerman noted that adjacent property values would be unaffected since there is already screening in place.

Following Champion’s motion for approval, the variance to allow expansion was passed unanimously with John Phillips serving as an alternate for Ranck, who had a conflict of interest with the petitioner.

A second petition from Williams to allow a contractor warehouse/storage yard in an Agriculture/Rural Dwelling (AR) District remained tabled.

Joining the BZA members, Zimmerman and Hardwick for the hour-long meeting was new Putnam County Plan Director Lisa Zeiner.

The Greencastle BZA will next meet in regular session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6 at City Hall.

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    No good deed goes unpunished?

    But at least the BZA was nice enough to let them put a driveway on their property. (snicker)

    Mrs Zeiner seems to have made the rounds in county government.

    I hear its good work, if you can get it.

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Fri, Sep 10, 2021, at 6:46 PM
  • will the people a couple of doors down who made a widening pad with gravel have to remove it as well? Mr. Zimmerman said the gravel was an issue.

    -- Posted by Workingthesoil on Sun, Sep 12, 2021, at 4:27 PM
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